I signed up for this race really early, one of the main reasons is the bright purple event t-shirt by 2ndSkin, after the nice orange t-shirt last year. Although the race was under distance by about a kilometer last year, I didn't harbor much hope that they will get it right this time. But, it was good to start 2016 season to do short races, and put in some speed works as preparation for my Cyberjaya Twincity Marathon in the following week.
So, it was a long drive from my house to the race venue, a little change to last year but just next door. I dozed off in the car as I reached out quite early at the race venue and got to the start line with just half an hour before the race. As it was a short distance race where you are expected to run all your heart out and max up the heart rate as soon as the word go, I though it would be better to have a short warm-up run to get my heart rate into the aerobic zone.
With some five minutes before the scheduled start, I sneaked myself to the second front row and caught up with Eijoy. As they were many races happening that morning as well as the bigger one, Shah Alam Night Run, held the night before, it was a small scale race organized by the local sports and recreational club, Kelab Melawati. And most people that I talked to during the race are from the surrounding neighborhood. Missing from the race were some good local runners whom we thought may have gone to other races with higher prize money. But there were a handful of african runners at the start line. Nevertheless, I wasn't targeting for podium as the it was only rewarded for top three positions.
The race was supposed to start at 7am was finally flagged off at 7.10am. I soon found myself in 2nd position, just behind Muhammad Asdi. And not long after that, maybe not even 500m from the start line, the two african guys overtook us and Asdi followed suit while I trailed behind. I was overtaken by a few more and Eijoy as well. I was hoping to at least run sub 4:00-minute pace for two minutes but I just couldn't sustain it. And the fact that the route went a little uphill just after 1.5km into the race. And thereafter, it was rolling elevation but none was too hard to handle.
The route was similar to last year except for some improvisation at the end of the race, maybe to get it to 10km distance. Despite the improvisation, the race was still short by 600m. Overall, contrary to the complaints I've heard about this event during its inaugural edition, the event has seen marked improvements ever since last year. Water stations were still adequate, placed at every 3km. The only thing that turn me off a bit was that the water served at the first WS was in the 500ml mineral water bottle which I thought would be a waste as normally in short races like this one, runners just need few sips, not the whole bottle. So I skipped the first WS. The other two WS were alright.
I reached back to the start line in 42 minutes and 07 seconds, a little slower than last year but for a longer distance. So, the pace was about the same. Didn't get any placing card, as expected as the top two in the Men's Open category were dominated by the africans. So does the top place in Women's Open. I ended up in the 8th position in Men's Open, higher by two positions from last year.
Finishing point and the carnival were pretty much the same like last year. Milo, isotonic, cereal breakfast then the zumba performance. And the very nice, big medal which is like an icing to the cake for me. This year's race also seen the organizer bringing along the 60-year old Nasir Abbas who at the end of last year had ran for more than 500km from Shah Alam to Alor Setar in 10 days! Such an inspiration. I hang around at the race site, catching up with some friends, even had some sweaty moments doing the zumba.
Although I was not fully satisfied with my 4:29-minute average pace, I still take it as okay given the fact that I went to Broga-Tokwan the evening before the race day and that the elevation that slowed me down at certain sections. But by looking at the results, I guess I may have a chance to be in top three position once I entered the Veteran category next year!
For overall results of Melawati 10K Run 2016, click here.
For my race details on Garmin Connect, click here.
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